The Hobbit Featurettes Take You Into The Making Of Gollum, The Goblin King And More

Peter Jackson's Middle-earth films are thrilling and entertaining in their own right as adventure films, but they are also just as much about spectacle. And that's where the work of Weta Digital comes in. The visual effects company first got the opportunity to show off its skills with the Lord of the Rings trilogy and even before Andy Serkis' motion-captured Gollum appeared on screen for the first time audiences were floored by the visual wonder of it all.

And The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was no different. While the story was perhaps a bit more criticized than those from Lord of the Rings, the movie's digital effects never failed to live up to high expectations and standards. It's for that very reason that the film is one of the five titles up for this year's Best Visual Effects category at the Academy Awards. To celebrate the nomination, The Los Angeles Times has posted three new videos featuring the voice of Weta Digital's Joe Letteri explaining how three of the film's greatest computerized achievements came to life. Watch all three videos below and head over to the newspaper's site to read more about Letteri's history and work on The Hobbit.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be going up against Life of Pi, The Avengers, Prometheus and Snow White and the Huntsman during the Oscars, so it faces some serious competition. It's worth noting that it is also nominated for both production design and hair & makeup, so even if it does lose out on VFX it could walk away with Oscar gold.